Music can bring audiences to tears, but it is rare for the musician to be brought to tears as well.
That is exactly what happened to the pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii, when he performed an original piece at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Nobuyuki Tsujii is a renowned pianist throughout the world.
Nobuyuki found his passion for music at a very young age. He was born blind due to microphthalmia but this did not stop him from learning how to play the piano. He began lessons at an early age and by the age of 12 he had already performed at the Osaka Century Symphony in his home country of Japan. In 2009, he became the first blind pianist to win the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nobuyuki Tsujii has performed all over the world at the most prestigious concert halls. He had debuted at the Carnegie Hall in 2011, at the age of 23, and has returned multiple times since then. He does not only perform classical pieces but also his own compositions. It was one of his own compositions that brought him to tears at Carnegie Hall in 2015.
The composition is titled “Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan”.
On March 11, 2011, Japan, Nobuyuki’s home country, was hit with a horrible earthquake and tsunami that followed. The earthquake was a magnitude of 9.0, the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history. The earthquake and tsunami resulted in 15,890 deaths in Japan and 2,590 missing, but presumed dead. The devastating earthquake and tsunami resulted in $220 billion in damages for Japan too.
The tsunami and earthquake was devastating to Japan.
Nobuyuki created “Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan” in honor of all the lives that were lost from that fateful day.
Nobuyuki performed his original composition at Carnegie Hall years after the earthquake and tsunami. The piece has not been easier for him to perform, no matter how many years have passed. Nobuyuki took the pain he felt from that day and put it into music. You can hear his painful emotions with every stroke of the keys.
The tsunami is known as one of Japan’s hardest tragedies and Nobuyuki conveys that pain through his music.
Nobuyuki Tsujii cannot help but let the tears fall from his eyes as he plays, years later, to honor the lives lost.
His raw emotion shines a light how powerful music can be. He took a horrible tragedy and created a beautiful piece of art, but that does not take the pain from the tragedy away. What a gift he has given the world, especially to Japan, with this composition and his ability to perform it so honestly. His honest emotions makes his music connect even deeper with the audience.
You visually see the pain he felt, and still feels, while creating and performing “Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan.”
There is nothing that connects people more than music.
People all over the world, that were not in Japan on that fateful day, can hear how painful it was for the country through his performance. It was years later and it still brought him to tears to even perform the piece.
Watch the moving performance in full right below.
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